Halos and blurred vision

[matana]

I'm myopic (-3.5 dpt / -3.75 dpt) and have been wearing glasses since age 14. I had to read a lot last year and noticed that my sight became worse. Dark letters on bright surfaces draw a shadowy image of themselves to above and slightly to the left of the real word. One week ago, I first noticed seeing halos around light sources, mostly at night. The light in their center seems to be abnormally bright, too.
When I had a check-up done at my ophthalmologist's last Monday, there seemed to be nothing wrong with my eyes or vision. I could decipher all the letters he had me read, though similar looking ones seemed to be rather blurry and difficult to discern due to their being surrounded by the shadows described above. Intraocular pressure was within  normal (16 mmHg) parameters on both sides. The field of vision was perfectly normal for both eyes. Corneal oedema or injury has also been excluded and a treatment has been started with eyedrops, "dry eyes" being the working diagnosis.
Today, I wasn't even able to recognize people in back light conditions as everything seemed blurred and in low light conditions the letters in books seem to be blurry, too, at normal reading distance.
Needless to say, I'm worried.

[Sandy Feldman, MD, MS]

Dear matana,

I would pay attention to your symptoms and note whether this happens in one or both eyes.  Is the vision worse at distance or near? Does the reading improve if you take your glasses off for near?  Were your eyes dilated? I would recommend a complete eye examination including dilation to check for opacities of the lens such as cataract.

Dr. Feldman

Sandy T. Feldman, M.D., M.S.
ClearView Eye and Laser Medical Center
San Diego, California

[MommaDuck1]

Sounds like what I have, myopic degeneration. I doubt that is what you have since your prescription is not that bad. If you really cannot see as much as you describe, see an ophthalmologist ASAP.

[matana]

Dear Dr. Feldman,

thank you for your answer.

My eyes were not dilated for the exam. The symptoms are present in both eyes and seem to be equal in extend. My reading does not improve if I take off my glasses. I'm under the impression that the symptoms became worse over the weekend. Generally, my vision is worse in low light conditions such as dawn and dusk or on overcast days and it's pretty sharp on sunny days, though I'm often blinded by the light. At night all light sources seem to be more intense than before I first noted the halos around them. Basically, those halos can be described like those you can see when looking at a light source on a very foggy day. Yesterday, I had to follow a powerpoint presentation on a big screen - black letters on white background with low ambient light. The letters themselves were sharp, but they were surrounded by a lighter, blurry double vision, much like a shadow. My eyes feel dry at times, sometime there's some burning feeling. I'm under the impression that the sensitivity of my cornea is reduced in comparison to other people, as I often don't feel that I've got a foreign body, like a lash e.g., in my eye.

I'm 27 now, turning 28 at the end of year. I took cortisone twice for about a month five and four years ago when dealing with a now healed tinnitus. Aside from an oral contraceptive and the seasonal antihistamine, I'm not on any medication. How are the odds for a cataract in this setting?

[matana]

Dear Dr. Feldman,

thank you for your answer.

My eyes were not dilated for the exam. The symptoms are present in both eyes and seem to be equal in extend. My reading does not improve if I take off my glasses. I'm under the impression that the symptoms became worse over the weekend. Generally, my vision is worse in low light conditions such as dawn and dusk or on overcast days and it's pretty sharp on sunny days, though I'm often blinded by the light. At night all light sources seem to be more intense than before I first noted the halos around them. Basically, those halos can be described like those you can see when looking at a light source on a very foggy day. Yesterday, I had to follow a powerpoint presentation on a big screen - black letters on white background with low ambient light. The letters themselves were sharp, but they were surrounded by a lighter, blurry double vision, much like a shadow. My eyes feel dry at times, sometime there's some burning feeling. I'm under the impression that the sensitivity of my cornea is reduced in comparison to other people, as I often don't feel that I've got a foreign body, like a lash e.g., in my eye.

I'm 27 now, turning 28 at the end of year. I took cortisone twice for about a month five and four years ago when dealing with a now healed tinnitus. Aside from an oral contraceptive and the seasonal antihistamine, I'm not on any medication. How are the odds for a cataract in this setting?

[matana]

Somehow I don't think this worked. I've accidentally posted the same text twice and the "to"-thing didn't seem to work either. Could anyone of you tell me how it is done?